Dec. 2—14 was the magic number for the Savanna Lady Bulldogs (1-1) as they cruised to their first win of the season in a 53-21 blowout over the Antlers Lady Bearcats (0-2) Monday night.
A scrappy battle that saw three jump balls in the first four minutes of play, didn’t allow for either team to get any offensive rhythm. Only down 2-0 midway through the opening quarter, however, the Lady Bulldogs finally got on the board after MaKenna Hoffman made her way to the charity stripe.
With the energy of Savanna’s bench rising, the Lady Bulldogs found their way to the basket for a big run, putting them up double-digits. In that span, Katy Ivy hit the game’s first triple and Hoffman and Ryleigh Ivy both scored layups as Savanna led 12-5 heading into the first break.
The second period was more of the same in terms of grittiness except for the fact that Antlers began to slowly chip away at its deficit. The Bearcats scored a huge corner three-point basket and then hit a layup to cut the lead to a mere six points at 18-12, forcing a Savanna timeout.
Despite the surge, the Lady Bulldogs were able to cease the Bearcats momentum with a much-needed triple from Gracie Clifton and two free throws. Each team had plenty of possessions with under two minutes left in the half, but neither team would score, leaving Savanna with a 22-14 lead.
Opposite to the first quarter, the first points for the Lady Bulldogs came in the first minute of action starting with a transition layup from Hoffman. Katy Ivy then hit her second shot from behind the arc and Bry Vanciel hit her first bucket of the game to dig Antlers into an almost insurmountable hole at 31-14.
The Bearcats needed one last spark with under two minutes left in the quarter and were able to get some points at the free throw line. However, Abby Goostree and Hailey Lalli were able to score on consecutive possessions and Maddi Lenardo capped off a stellar quarter with a buzzer-beating layup to give the Lady Bulldogs a 37-19 lead.
Savanna continued to put the pedal to the metal even with being in front by nearly 20 points. Vanciel herself found nothing but net on two straight trips across the court, scoring a triple and a layup on back-to-back drives.
With their largest run of the night at 14-0 to start the fourth quarter, the Lady Bulldogs nearly held onto a shutout, only allowing a late bucket in the waning seconds of the game as they went onto get their first win of the season, 53-21.
Vanciel led Savanna with 15 points while Hoffman paced right behind her with 10.
The Lady Bulldogs will be back in action tomorrow night when they face Canadian (0-1) at home at 6:30 p.m.
